Nintendo is taking an old-school approach with the Nintendo Switch by using cartridge-based games. The benefit of cartridges is that you won’t need to install them directly on the system. When you pick up your console and a game — namely, Breath of the Wild — you can just pop the cartridge in and play without having to install any data. If you choose to download Breath of the Wild, on the other hand, the file size will devour a whopping 13.4GB. Even if you plan to buy physical copies of most AAA games, if you account for system updates, game patches, eShop games, and Virtual Console classics (when VC comes to Switch), the console’s 32GB of storage space will evaporate rather quickly.
More: Nintendo’s Switch is one console you can take everywhere — here’s what you need to know
Thankfully, the Switch has a microSD card reader that allows you expand on-board storage. Here’s what you should consider when picking out a microSD card for your Switch, along with a few recommendations.
microSDXC vs. microSDHC
The Switch supports microSDHC cards by default, but a launch update will add microSDXC compatibility as well. What’s the difference? Storage limits.
SDHC stands for Secure Digital High Capacity, but these cards top out at 32GB. SDXC stands for Secure Digital eXtended Capacity, and these cards store anywhere between 64GB and 256GB at this time.
Depending on your gaming habits, 32GB of additional storage via microSDHC may be enough for you, but for those who plan to use the eShop and Virtual Console, microSDHC probably won’t cut it for very long.